The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-07-02
A DEER HUNT.
BY REV. L. L. BEMAN.

A slick" is a salt spring, so called by
hunters because wild animals resort to it
and lick the briny ground. The writer
has seen the vicinity of such spings
trodden by the beasts OF the forest as
hard as cattle yard. A singu trait
of many wild creatures is never to seek
drink or salt by daylight, instinct SEEM
ing to tell them that safety requires such
visits to be made at night.
The incident am about to relate oc-
Cured in Ohio, in the autumn OF 1872,
while the Indians were on the war path;
but as the settlement where it happened
was not 80 far to the front as many 9th
ers, it was not thought to be in SO great
danger. However, every family was pro-
vided with arms, and log fort had been
built as defense in case OF need.
One day, just at dusk, Robert Page
and his son Jimmy. an athletic lad OF
sixteen, posted themselves on rude
scaffolding twenty or thirty feet from the
ground, in an enormous branching tree
within short gun-shot of lick. From
this perch clear view opened toward the
lick, while on moonlight nights the trod-
den space was distinctly visible. Here
they had often concealed themselves to
obtain venison for the family, and, hav-
ing fixed their guns i'll rest, remained as
silent as the trees around until the game
appeared.
On the night in question, several hours
passed while our hunters listened in
tently for noises denoting the approach
of game.
At last the boys quick hearing detected
footsteps. Distant and faint at first, they
steadily drew nearer, but, at the same
time, they were so heavy and inelastic,
unlike the steps of wild animals, that the
listeners were mystified if not alarmed.
On they came, trampling through the
woods, and as they emerged into the
moonlight in the vacant spot near the
spring, MIR. Page and Jimmy counted
war party OF sixteen Indians. Much to
their surprise the red men halted and
building fire on the hard-trodden
ground, proceeded to broil venison, roast
nuts, and parch corn. While eating they
kept up an incessant jabbering, enough
of it being understood by Mr.. Page to
prove that they we're on the way to attack
the settlement at daybreak.
OF course, upon the discovery of this
bloody purpose, the two whites were
overwhelmed by their feelings, for the
first house in the settlement was their
own, scarcely mile distant, where Mrs.
Page and several children would be easy
victims. What should be done? To
descend from their covert and hurry on
to give alarm seemed impossible without
being heard by the Indians. To fire on
them would avail but little, and would
not save the settlement from attack.
Much smothered whispering passed
between father and son before a decision
was reached. Often they sighted their
guns at the Indians, almost resolved to
begin the fray at all hazards. But at
length Mr.. Page, himself untitled by
rheumatism for such an attempt, reluc-
family consented to Jimmy's urgency, and
the brave lad undertook the dangerous
experiment of descending and flying to
alarm the settlement. Removing his
heavy homemade boots and leaving his
gun, he began, with the stealth of cat,
to make his way to the ground.
The savages were not sixty feet distant,
and the least noise would reach their ears,
arouse their suspicious. and start them
on search. But he was equal to the
occasion and, after several minutes of
intense listening, the father knew by